Finance Committee on Oct. 11th, 2023

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you.

I'll make a couple of points. Then I'll go to Madam Richard for a response on the health accord.

That is intended to be a 10-year agreement that allows us to move from political conversations to have the runway needed to implement some changes. One thing I was really pleased to see in that accord was the data management aspect, which should now be close to completion across the country and allows for outcomes and accountability so that provinces indeed do not spend the funds on lawn mowers. The funding is aligned with the pillars that provinces and territories signed on with as part of the funding exchange.

The second piece, which I know from conversations in my own province, is that the colleges or associations are highly engaged in conversations across the country around credentialing. I will say, to my colleague's comments earlier, that nursing is a highly skilled profession. The need to credential and hold to the standards, particularly for the safety and well-being of the population, is very important. I think the expertise exists across the country. The conversations are happening. Obviously, the federation plays a key role in those conversations. I don't think that's something the federal government can enter into or impose at all. I want to state that very clearly.

The third piece is the level of collaboration needed, especially in a country as diverse politically as this country is, around provinces and the ability of nurses to move from province to province, while also understanding that it is the provinces and the territories that negotiate the contracts with nurses who are responsible for health care within their own areas.

I'm interested in your comments on how the federal government is then able to work with those provincial and territorial governments to ensure that the basic protection and rights for health care, with nurses being critical to the delivery of health care, are embedded in the overarching health agreement. I just wanted to clarify a couple of points that I thought were a little misleading earlier.

[Maria Richard]

You're right in saying that the federal government has to steer the ship, but it ultimately becomes province-wide. Each province will have its unique needs.

If we look at the introduction for violence, Bill C-3 is governed by the federal government, and that's helped us here in the province. It has helped our nurses feel more.... Yes, there's work to be done. We need to work on educating prosecutors, public safety staff and the RCMP on the Criminal Code changes. There needs to be more enforcement. Yes, we need to have a campaign.

The fact that the federal government made that change has helped. That's why we're looking at the federal government to look at safe patient ratios. If it's not safe.... Just like the government has done with aviation and transport, set an number of hours after which a nurse has to stop, because at the end of the day, it's not safe. When a nurse has worked 24 hours, if they're lucky, they might get an hour of sleep. We don't call that sleep.

The thing is that the federal government can, with the pan-Canadian workforce planning, look at retention, look at recruitment and look at how we can better help nurses come back in the system and stay in the system.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, MP Thompson. That's the time and the end of our session.

I want to thank our great witnesses on behalf of the committee. We thank you for your testimony informing our pre-budget consultation study in advance of our 2024 budget. Thank you for your advocacy for nurses, for artists and for New Brunswick.

We thank you as we do our tour here of the Atlantic and then the rest of the country on this study.

Thank you very much.

We are adjourned, members.